Of the many ways for catching fish which have been devised by man since antiquity, a favored method is to impale a hapless worm, shrimp, or the like on a hook secured to a fish line extending from a fishing pole, and to drop the baited hook into the proper spot in fish-infested waters. The questions of which bait is best, where the proper spot is located, and whether the waters are indeed infested with fish are matters which have never been resolved in all the lore of countless fishermen.
However, it is common to all the lore of fishing that fish frequently steal the bait from the hook without becoming hooked themselves. Thus, ironically, the fisherman's dinner becomes his diner, feeding on usually expensive bait such as fresh, live shrimp, blood worms, minnows, and the like. It is remarkable that a cold blooded animal with a tiny brain and no hands at all can so deftly remove the bait from the needle-sharp, barbed hook, and do so without snagging the hook or shaking the line sufficiently to alert the fisherman. This feat is a tribute to the fishes agility and cunning, and is attested to by the large number of bait shops which operate profitably near any popular fishing area. Clearly there is a need to provide a better means of detecting the presence of the fish, so that the fisherman can use his skills to set the hook and catch the fish.